Pandas Playing Chello Episode #67 with Andrew Markell

What do people with autism, their families, special operations forces, and first responders have in common?

They all navigate extraordinary levels of trauma and stress—yet mainstream approaches often fail to address their unique needs for resilience and healing.

In this episode of Pandas Playing Cello, Andrew Markell joins hosts Carmen Medina and Julia Mossbridge to explore how we can support these populations in becoming not just resilient, but truly antifragile. Andrew brings expertise from The Dawn Collective, a nonprofit that trains special forces and first responders to increase their antifragility and heal trauma. Drawing on his background in mythology, the fighting and healing arts, and biological trauma healing, the conversation ventures into new territory for understanding human potential.

The discussion also explores MIND-RISE, an ambitious project to transform how human potential research gets funded and conducted in this country—moving it from top-down models to locally-informed, cutting-edge efforts that actually serve communities. Andrew also mentions the innovative work happening at Cottonwood School in Bozeman, Montana.